Ophelia's Passage

This sestina is about the death of Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet. I hoped to capture the passive transition that is possible once someone accepts death. I tried to accentuate this acceptance which Shakespeare portrays as a major theme in Hamlet.

She sat inert on the branch Examining the lily’s petals. It gasped the air and imbibed the water. The bridge of two worlds watched her in silence. They looked for reasons to stay But inside each they found nothing.

The frail lily could offer nothing Comparable to the supportive branch, So at a distance she would stay Until beckoned by the petals Which obeyed the lily pad in silence. The pale moonlight gleamed in the water.

That delicate lily in the water Had so powerful a lure that nothing Could stop her gaze. Sheer silence Never spoke so loud; it called her from the branch. She yearned to answer the dainty petals But those roots bade her at a distance to stay.

The utterly peaceful lily would stay Secluded in the ominous water Until she saw the roots as the petals. But fate was keeping time. Nothing Would be done to object the branch Rupturing in thunderous silence.

There was no thrashing, just pure silence Once she had resolved to stay. Her fate had been fixed when the branch Dropped her into the foreign water. The roots coiled passively but nothing Occurred to oppose. The roots were as petals

In her eyes. She gazed at the distant petals As she drifted into a world of silence. As far as hesitation, she felt nothing. The fragile roots whispered their promise to stay With her on her journey through the water Away from the earthly, traitorous branch.

There is nothing lost in the passing of fair petals The girl on the branch complies in silence To pass and stay in the world of empty water.

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